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liV 

UEV. ROBERT F. SAMRLE. 




I'lllLAhKl.l'lllA: 


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I A M E S S. CL AXTON, 

CESSOR TO WILLIAM S. A ALFRED MARTIEN. 

fiOO rilESTM T StueKT. 




~* y 



IUt. R. F. Sahpli, 



BEDroni<, May 1, 1805. 



Dtar Sir — For oursolvc", and in bchnlf of the Tery larftc conRropitiong wliloli hoartl 
your fiermon on tlm death of our lBui«<nte<l lato I'resklent, AiiRAruii Li.volx, fprcmheU on 
Sabbath, the i'M ult,, and. t)y a general rtHiuost of our rilizviix, n-peated la.st cv-'iiintf.) 
we thank you, and, incompliance witli an aluioi>t universally expressed dekire that it l>« 
published, we a.«k that you will oblige us with a cojiy fur that purpose. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

0. n SPANG, 
SAMUEL SHUCK, 
THOMAS R. GETTYS, 
H. XICODEMUS, 
W. II. WATSON. M.D., 



C. N. inCKOK, 

A. L. KUSSEL. Harri«buig, Pa., 

A. KI.NG, 

LOUIS W. HALL, Altoona, Pa., 

D. WASHABAUGH, 



A. B. CKA.MER, 

G. \V. HUPP, 

J. U. ANDEIISOX. M. D., 

RjEV. J. U. lXjNALDSON,8chell8burg, Pa., 



JOH.V CESSNA 
S. L. RUSSELL. 
LAW. TALIAFiiKRO, D. S. A. 



Bedfori', May 2, 1866. 
GftUltmen — The sermon you have so kindly requested Is herewith placed atyourdi«po«al. 

Very truly, yours, 

KOBEKT f SAMPLE. 
To Dr. C. N. Hickok, 
Gen. A. L. Ri'ssell, 
Hon. A. KiNn, 
Hon. Louis W. Hall, 
O. II. Sl-ASO, Esq., 
Messrs. Shcce, Gcttts. and others. 



S E R j\I N . 



Psalm xcvii. 2. 



"Cloi'DS and parkkess ahb ROi:!«n about ITrM; nionTEiius.vF.ss axd 

JUDGMENT AIIE TDK HABITATION OP lIlS TDKOXE." 

"We shall not detain you witli an extended argu- 
ment to prove the doctrine of a Divine Providence. 
It is a fact of natural and revealed religion. It 
would be as rational to deny the existence of God as 
to controvert His Providence. The power which 
created is alone sufficient to uphold all things. The 
perfections of God, the nature of man, the order of 
the universe — all add their testimony to the truth 
so frequently and so explicitly stated in the Bible, 
that God sits upon the throne of universal do- 
minion. 

In our great national sorrow and personal grief 
we seek comfort. We may find it in this doctrine 
of our holy religion. God grant, that as we look 
upward through the gloom, and toward the cur- 
tained throne, we may hear the voice of Infinite 
Love saying, " Be not afraid, only believe." 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 



We shall speak of the throne itself, the obscurity 
which surrounds it, and its foundations, laid in the 
righteousness and judgment of God. 

A throne implies dominion. Jehovah's dominion 
is as limitless as creation. It reaches to all worlds, 
and to all creatures. It is seen in the material uni- 
verse. It is manifested in the regular succession of 
the seasons. Seed-time and harvest, summer and 
winter, come and go at their appointed time. The 
Lord waters the hills from His chambers. He 
causeth grass to grow for cattle, and herb for the 
serv'ice of man. Secondary causes owe all their effi- 
ciency to the great First Cause. The laws of Na- 
ture are of God's appointment and execution. 
Hence, it is His hand bestows every earthly bless- 
ing. 

His dominion extends to other worlds; to the 
staiTy heavens, system beyond system, all moving in 
silence, and with the utmost precision and regularity 
nlf)ng their pathways through the sky. He telleth 
tlie number of the stars, and calleth them all by 
tlicir names. He guideth Arcturus with his sons; 
He bindeth the sweet influences of Pleiades; He 
looseth the bands of Orion, and He bringeth forth 
Mazzaroth in his season. 

Thus God's Providence extends from the dew- 
drop on the flower, to the most distant world which 



^^ 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. < 

moves in the infinite space. As King of Nature wc 
praise Ilim, and bow reverently at His feet. 

This providence embraces the iutcUijieut creation. 
It is God who appoints the time, place, and cir- 
cumstances of our birth, and of our death. God 
assigned us our respective positions in the workl, 
whether liigh or low; whether crowned with 
liglit or curtained with clouds; whether posts of 
honorable authority or humble service, of respon- 
sible wealth or anxious poverty. God determined 
the capacity of our minds, and the channels of 
their e.vercise. The lofty intellect, the far-reaching 
thought, the soaring imagination, and tlie inven- 
tive genius; or the humble intellect, tlie plod- 
ding mind, the feeble conception, — are all derived 
from Ilim who distributes according to His sove- 
reign pleasure. He gave to Milton his poetic 
talents, and he wrote his Paradise Lost; to Bunyan 
his powers of allegory, and he described the Pil- 
grim's Progress from this world to that which is to 
come; to Isaac Newton those natural endowments 
which distinguish the astronomer, he investigated 
the laws of matter, and read the glorious visions of 
the skies; to Locke those powers of analyzing the 
human mind, which made him the most distin- 
guished inte^ectual philosopher of his age. 

Turning to other departments in life, we may 



8 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

add, that God took David from the field and made 
the shepherd-boy king over Israel, ruling wisely, 
and reigning long, lie raised up Solomon, whose 
name is associated with the highest attainments of 
tlie human mind, and the culmination of Israel's 
glory. God gave to England the pious Alfred, who 
taught the dark-minded people the way of life, and 
strengthened the foundations of the government, 
which has stood through a thousand succeeding 
years. It was the same God over all who gave to 
this land the great and good George Washington, 
whom we style the Father of our Country, and it 
was He who gave to this nation, in the day of its 
peril, the noble, meek, and honest patriot, whose 
name shall ever be linked with that of Washington, 
who, under God, preserved to us the heritage 
received from our fathers. 

God also assigned to humbler men, in Church 
and State, their spheres of labor — men whose names 
are not written in history or graven on marble, who 
acted well their part — whose record is on high. 

Again, consider the Providence of God as it has 
respect to nations. What is true of individuals is 
true of States. It is (iod wlio moves tlie vast 
machinery of national aliairs — gives ])rosperity and 
sends adversity — blesses with peace ajid desolates 
with war; who humbles the proud, chastises the 



THE CURTAINED TIIKONE. 9 

wicked, and exterminates the incorri<^ible ; showing 
Himself a just and holy God, who will exalt a 
righteous people, but cannot connive at iniquity, or 
suffer a sinful nation to go unpunished. The waires 
of national sin, unrepented of, is national death. 
"Thus saith the ].ord God, remove the diadem and 
takeoff the crown." On the other hand, "Happy 
is that people whose God is the Lord," they shall 
abide under his shadow, and be joyful in their King. 

We see God in /listorj/. He walks among the 
kingdoms of the earth. He evokes from obscurity, 
and sends into oblivion. Jehovah is on the Throne! 
The history of the Hebrew CommomceaWi furnishes 
an exemplification. Their deliverance from Egypt- 
ian bondage; their passage through the wilderness; 
the subjugation of Canaan, and their establishment 
in the Land of Promise; their power and glory 
under David, God's chosen vicegerent; their dis- 
memberment under Rehoboam, by the secession of 
the ten tribes, soon extinguished as a nation ; the 
captivity of Judah in Babylon; their restoration 
by Cyrus, and, on account of their wickedness, the 
final dispersion of the Jews over the whole earth, 
— all reveal a righteous God, true to His character, 
and faithful to His word, all the while working out 
His own eternal purpose. 

'^^'c trace his pathway through all the centuries 



10 TEE CURTAINED THRONE. 

from the day the sceptre departed from Judah until 
now. On the continent of Europe we see nations 
rise from small beginnings, advance with rapidity in 
power, influence, and wealth, attain a culmination in 
glory which is the world's astonishment, and then, 
like glowing meteors in the sky, rush downward, 
and go out in eternal darkness! 

AVe notice His interposition in behalf of others, 
delivering from a threatening doom the humbled 
nations which fled to the refuge of His power. 
When the Spanish fleet, called the Invincible 
Armada, sailed proudly and defiantly toward the 
shores of Protestant England, and the wreck of pure 
religion and cherished liberties seemed just at hand, 
then God came in the whirlwind and in the storm, 
burying the boastful fleet in the depths of the 
ocean; and the pious Queen recognized the Deli- 
verer of her people, in the medals which bore the 
inscription, "Afflavit Deus et dissipantur" — "God 
has blown, and they are scattered." 

And though men will not as readily discern the 
hand of God in the discovery of the plot intended to 
destroy an English King and his Parliament, kept a 
profound secret for more than a year, yet, had they 
a clearer vision, they ivoiild see it there, moving on 
the mind of one man, and directing to the divul- 
gence of the terrible scheme, as certainly as deter- 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 11 

mining the course of the winds wliicli destroyed a 
defiant fleet. 

Again, we see God's overruling hand in the per- 
secutions of a later day, which led to the coloniza- 
tion of America, and reared the sanctuary heside the 
capitol, under the shadow of primeval forests, and 
made the wilderness as the garden of the Lord. 
Yes, Jehovah is on the throne ! Hence the record, 
long ago, " By Naaman the Lord had given deliver- 
ance unto Syria." " Jehozidak went into captivity 
when the Lord carried away Judah and Jerusalem 
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar." "Promotion 
Cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor 
from the south, but God is the Judge. He putteth 
down one, and setteth up another." The Lord 
reigneth ! He chastiseth sin. He afflicts, that He 
may preserve from greater evil. He leads His 
people through the fires, that He may fit them for 
nobler service and greater glory. 

God permits the evil, and ordains the good. He 
permitted Israel to sin in the wilderness; He 
ordained to bring them into Canaan. He permitted 
the moral darkness of the Middle Ages to gather 
over Europe; He ordained Wicklifle to be the morn- 
ing star of the Reformation. He permitted the slave 
trade, He ordained the liberation of the oppressed. 
He permitted the assassin to strike the blow which 



12 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

suddenly and sadly terminated the life of our 
lamented Chief Magistrate; and we trust He has 
ordained, by the hand of Joshua, to lead the people 
into the promised land. 

God is not the author of sin. Such an imputa- 
tion were blasphemous. The perfections of His 
character preclude a positive agency in sin ; but He 
permits and overrules it. Some one has said, a dark 
shadow is not pleasant in itself, and is not drawn on 
the canvass because of any intrinsic beauty; but it 
serves to set forth the beauty which is the main 
design of the painter's art. So sin, which is in the 
world, is the dark background, presenting in bolder 
relief the justice and mercy of God. 

II. The Obscurity of Divine Providence. 

"Clouds and darkness are round about Him." 
Mystery is everywhere. It is in Nature. We stand 
in the outer court of God's creation, and the inner 
temple is to us a great unknown. The hody is mys- 
teriously made. The mind is a mystery to the ever- 
expanding intellect which traces its labyrinths. The 
universe is wrapped in clouds, and our eyes cannot 
penetrate the mists which gather on the near 
horizon. 

Redemption is a mystery. Angels cannot read it 
fully; saints shall study it for ever, and never 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 13 

fathom its depths. Is it any wonder* then, that we 
cannot understand the providence of God 1 One who 
was admitted to His presence-chamber, and held 
intimate communion with Ilim ; who studied history 
in the light of fulfilled prophecy, and, aided by 
inspiration, anticipated results concealed from other 
minds, was yet compelled to say, "Thy way is in the 
sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy foot- 
steps are not known." 

We ought to hold fast the truth that God is in 
every event, and we may learn lessons of wisdom 
from providences which we cannot fully understand. 
Whatever befalls us, we should say, " It is the Lord ; 
let Him do what seemeth him good." And if we 
will listen, we may hear the voice of Jesus in the 
storm, saying, "Be of good cheer, it is I." 

AYe may oftentimes trace the connection between 
the sin and its punishment. Herod exalted himself 
to the dignity of a god, and appropriated to himself 
the glory due to the Creator, and immediately disease 
smote, and worms consumed him. Impious youth, 
meeting Elisha on his way to Bethel, mocked him, 
saying: "Go up thou bald-head; go up thou bald- 
head!" and God who has, with an awful emphasis, 
forbidden men to harm His prophets, sent wild 
beasts from the wood to destroy them. The blas- 
phemer curses God and dares the vengeance of the 



14 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

Almighty, and the next moment the tongue is 
palsied, or the crashing thunderbolt destroys him. 
The employer defrauds the hireling of his wages, 
grinds the faces of the poor, withholds his tithes 
from the Lord, and flames consume his treasures, or 
floods carry them away. There is no mystery here. 
The ultimate design may be far away, but the im- 
mediate result reveals God's displeasure with sin. 

Yet we should be charitable in our judgment of 
God's providences as they have respect to others. 
Those eighteen, on whom the tower of Siloam fell, 
and slew them, were not sinners above all men that 
dwelt in Jerusalem. The manner of a man's death 
does not indicate the moral quality of his life. The 
assassination of our late President does not change 
our previous estimate of his oflicial life, as one of 
integrity, justice, and clemency. The first of our 
race who passed through death to eternal life, was 
distinguished for his simple faith and earnest piety, 
and yet he fell by the hands of a murderer. John 
the Baptist, who heralded the glorious gospel day, 
was beheaded. The pious Stephen was cast out of 
the city, and was stoned. James, and Peter, and 
Paul, all suffered violent deaths, though their lives 
had been singularly pure, and their works accepted. 
Walter Lowrie was murdered just on the threshold 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 15 

of his usefulness, and in the sea, full many a fathom 
deep, waits the dawning of the resurrection day. 

Neither do great trials demonstrate God's dis- 
pleasure. Those who are afflicted most, may be the 
special favorites of Heaven. The maligned and per- 
secuted may recline on the bosom of Divine Love, 
and take Patmos on their way to Paradise. These 
fleeting years are but a point in the soul's unending 
life. Could we perceive what lies beyond, we should 
discern Divine favor, and needed discipline in the 
afflictions of the present. 

We are like children travelling through an un- 
known country. Marching and counter-marching, 
now bearing away in this direction, now in that; 
now climbing rugged steeps, and then passing 
through gloomy defiles, there seems an unnecessary 
expenditure of strength, and experience of painful- 
ness in our progress. We do not see the dangers 
that are thus avoided, nor know the advantages of the 
trials by the way. " Clouds and darkness are round 
about Him." 

What is true of individuals is equally true of 
Nations. God deals strangely with the State. We 
do not know His purpose, and cannot now see the 
wisdom which has permitted the sad event we mourn 
to-day. Moreover, we do not know the relation 
which one event sustains to another, or the influence 



16 'the curtained throne. 

which one nation is designed to exert upon another. 
Our vision is limited, both as respects space and 
time. The great God who sits on the circle of the 
earth, takes in all lands in His comprehensive pur- 
poses, and designs this age to tell on ages far away — 
this people on generations yet unborn. 

Jewish history is not ended. There are some 
streams which seem to be lost, which emerge again 
from their subterranean passages, to flow on in widen- 
ing channels. There are wheels within wheels 
which move not now, which shall revolve again, by 
and bj. AYliilst God is working the complicated 
machinery of His Providence in this land, it may be 
with reference to the down-trodden on the other side 
of the globe, and to set in motion other schemes, of 
which we have never dreamed, which shall fill the 
world with His glory. 

Who, by searching, can find out God] What 
finite mind can trace the pathway of the Infinite"? 
We may boast of our ability to interpret the provi- 
dences of God, and charge others with stupidity, 
when, in our conjectures, we have not made the 
remotest approximation to truth. We may speak 
with great confidence concerning the future develope- 
ments of providence, but God will rebuke our folly — 
going by some other way. "Clouds and darkness 
are round about Him." As well might the savage 



THE CURTAINED TIIUONE. 17 

who had never before been beyond the limits of liis 
hunting grounds, entering for tlio first time some 
vast manuflictory, attempt to point out the rektions 
of one part of the complicated machinery to another, 
of cylinder to revolving wheel, of governor to the 
velocity of movement, or describe with minuteness 
the nature and quality of the various flibrics issuing 
from concealed looms far above, as man, born but 
yesterday, whose wisdom is ignorance, attempt to 
indicate the laws which regulate the providences of 
God, the design of this calamity, the. issue of that 
trial, or the Divine purpose concerning any people 
in ages for away. We are ignorant alike of the 
warp and woof of God's providence, and the utmost 
we can say is, that somehow, and somewhere, and at 
some time, the result of all the strange and varied 
occurrences of this world will be glory to God and 
good to His church. This we learn from the in- 
spired statement: "Righteousness and judgment are 
the habitation of His throne." 

HI. The wisdom and goodness of Providence. 
What God docs is right. The issue of all the 
discipline of the present will be blessed. Though 
clouds gather about Him, and darkness which we 
cannot penetrate, yet we are assured that the 
eternal principles of righteousness and judgment 
arc the basis of His throne, and in the day of 
2 



jg THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

sorrow, or anticipated evil, fluth takes refuge in 
the changeless perfections of God, saying: "What 
time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." 

When we note the operations of nature we dis- 
cover what, at first, seems to indicate the absence of 
law and order. The pleasant breeze which rustles 
in the oaks and fans the fevered brow to-day, 
becomes to-morrow a mighty rushing wind, up- 
rooting forests, overturning cities, and carrying 
destruction all along its progress. The gentle 
shower which refreshes the earth and cools the 
atmosphere of this sultry day, becomes to-morrow a 
violent storm; rivers rise, and floods sweep away 
the accumulated wealth of years. One element m 
nature seems to war against another, and what one 
builds up another pulls down. Yet the diligent 
student of nature is able to account for this seeming 
mystery. Though much must be resolved into the 
sovereignty of God, and much be accounted for on 
the principle that man is a fallen creature, yet he 
will discover law in nature, and unity of design. 
He sees good, ultimate, if not immediate, in all. 
He follows along the convergent lines of nature 
until he arrives at the central Throne, and sees the 
hand of Infinite Love managing all, and leading on 
through all changes and revolutions to the consum- 
mation of great and beneficent ends. 

The field of Providence is not so readily traversed. 



THE CURTAIN KIJ Til HONE. 19 

but wc should trust wlieu we cannot sec. We 
accept tlie truth, - Rigliteousuess and judgment are 
the habitation of His throne;" and from within the 
curtained dwelling-phice there comes, as of old, that 
sweet, consolatory saying of Him whom our souls 
love: "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou 
shalt know hereafter." 

At tlie same time we know in part. We can see 
the working of those principles which lie at the 
foundation of God's government, in our experience, 
and from wliat we know, though it be but little, we 
draw hope concerning the future. 

We watched, through many years, the progress of 
one of God's people. In that life every sorrow 
proved a blessing, every bereavement was followed 
by a manifest unfolding of the life within, and 
growing meetness for the life above. The Christian 
advanced in faith and patience, in gentleness and 
goodness, in usefulness and spiritual mindedness, as 
time went on. As the grass looks greener, and the 
atmosphere is purer, and the birds sing more sweetly 
when the storm is over, so that life reflected more 
of the Saviour's beauty, the conversation was more 
spiritual, and the heart was more fixed in its calm, 
confiding trust, after each darkening sorrow had 
passed by. 

To Paul's imprisonment in Eome we are indebted 
for those noble epistles, scattered abroad like leaves 



20 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

plucked from the tree of life. Had John Bunyan 
been permitted to preach, undisturbed, at the little 
church in Bedford, we should never have had the 
immortal Allegory which has so long directed and 
comforted pilgrims on their way home. Had not 
Alexis been assassinated, Martin Luther might have 
lived and died a stranger to grace, the dawn of the 
Reformation put on a thousand years. Had not 
death entered the pleasant home in Cardington, 
John Howard would not have traversed the prison 
■world of Europe, and given to philanthropy an im- 
pulse which shall never die. 

God is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all 
His works. His wisdom is infinite. His love is 
boundless. He selects the best ends, and chooses 
the best means by which to reach them. The 
Psalmist, reviewing the history of Israel, strange 
and varied, saw the goodness of God in it all, and 
said: " Thou leddest Thy people like a flock, by the 
hand of Moses and Aaron." Saints in heaven, gone 
up out of great tribulation, as they look back over 
the way by which they came thither, — persecuted, 
afflicted, tormented, sawn asunder, nailed to crosses, 
drowned in rivers, assassinated in darkness, or 
burned at noon-day, — all say, as they read that 
strange experience in the effulgence of Heaven, 
" He hath done all things well." 

Notice, lastly, the duty suggested by the text. It 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 21 

is to draw from this precious truth the comfort God 
designed it to impart. Jehovah is on the Throne! 
This is our joy. It is a light in a dark place. It is 
a refuge in the day of trouble. It is a sure founda- 
tion when seas roar, and the mountains shake with 
the swelling thereof. Let all suffering ones enter 
this chamber of Divine truth, and shut the doors 
about them until the storm be overpast. 

On this day, surrounded with these sable emblems 
of our grief, we are constrained to refer once more to 
that great calamity which has filled our land with 
mourning. Our late President, honored and be- 
loved, is no more ! He has fallen by the hands of an 
assassin. In conscious integrity and singular charity, 
he walked abroad without fear. Taking: advantao^e 
of this unguarded sense of security, the crouching, 
stealthy foe, who but an hour before had been met 
with a pleasant smile of recognition, by an infamous 
act which shall be execrated by the civilized world 
until time shall end, plucked down the pillar of our 
hope, and extinguished for ever one of the brightest 
luminaries God ever set in the firmament of our 
national power. It lias seemed a terrible dream, and 
we have waited for the waking, but it has not come. 
We must accept the sad truth, and write a chapter 
in our national history unlike any that has gone 
before. 

We admired the man whom Providence led from 



22 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

lowly life, step by step, to that position of honor and 
responsibility he filled so well. When the candi- 
dates for that high office passed in review before us, 
as Jesse's sons before the prophet, we thought 
another was God's choice, but He who never errs, 
selected the noblest, the wisest, the best. As he 
came forth from the comparative seclusion of his 
former life, he felt that he had been called to rule in 
perilous times, he acknowledged his dependence on 
God, and sought His help. How touching those 
parting words addressed to the friends he left, and 
how earnest his request to be remembered in their 
prayers ! 

Good men may have differed in their opinions of 
certain official acts, but as we look calmly over the 
administration which is for ever closed, taking it all 
in all, we may see in it the guiding hand of God. 
That wisdom, calmness, decision, gentleness, and 
leniency, surely came from the great Father in 
Heaven. Though by no means infallible, yet, such 
adornment of character, and such adaptation to times 
and circumstances have rarely been equalled. One 
who knew him well, a clergyman of great piety, intelli- 
gence, and discernment, has well said:* "The people 
confided in the late lamented President with a firm 
and loving confidence, which no other man enjoyed 
since the days of AVashington. He deserved it well, 

• Seo funeral sermon of Rev. Dr. Gurlcy, Washington, D. C. 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 23 

and deserved it all. He merited it by his character, 
and by his acts, and by the whole tenor, and tone, 
and spirit of his life. He was wise, simple, and sin- 
cere; plain and honest, truthful and just. His per- 
ceptions were quick and clear; his judgment was 
calm and accurate, and his purposes were good and 
pure beyond a question. He is dead, but the 
memory of his virtues, of his wise and patriotic 
counsels and labors, of his calm and steady faith in 
God, lives, is precious, and will be a power for good 
in the country quite down to the end of time." 

If honesty was a prominent characteristic of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, so also was leniency. Hence the 
statement of a pleasant writer: "The few criticisms 
that have been made upon his administration, have 
fixed only on those acts in which the tenderness and 
humanity of his heart seemed to have weakened his 
executive severity;" and truly has it been said, that 
no vengeful words against his enemies did he ever 
utter. Like David, who directed the captains of his 
hosts, as they went forth to fight in the wood of 
Ephraim, to deal gently, for his sake, with the young 
man, even Absalom, so our lamented President said 
to the commanders of our armies, "deal gently with 
the conquered foe;" and the terms of surrender 
accepted by the head of the army of Virginia, were 
such as few others in the nation would have sujr- 
gested. He stood between the indignation of the 






24 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

North, and the people of the South, as if to preserve 
from promiscuous ruin, urging the misguided sons of 
the Republic to come home; with a singular kindli- 
ness of heart proffering restoration to the privileges 
and immunities they had forfeited. Ah yes! the 
enemies of our country have slain their best and 
most powerful earthly friend. 

Loving, gentle, and • indulgent in his home ; un- 
affected, kind, and self-sacrificing in social inter- 
course, he carried these traits of character into the 
great world, and manifested them in all his relations 
to the government and its enemies. No President, 
save one, as already intimated, has so won the hearts 
of the nation. With more diversity of opinion under 
his administration than existed during the Revo- 
lutionary struggle, he yet had the sympathy and 
support of the great mass of the people, and con- 
ciliated many who were his political opponents. 

In his death we have sustained a sad bereavement. 
Such depression was, perhaps, never known in the 
history of our own nation or any other. Strong men 
bow themselves and weep like children. Battle- 
scarred veterans cover their faces and mourn. 
Mothers and their daughters mingle their lamenta- 
tions and tears. The wealthy drape their homes in 
mourning, and the poor give their last penny that 
they may exhibit some token of their heart's deep 
sorrow. Public buildings are clad with the insignia 



THE CURTAINED TllKONE. 25 

of grief, and starry banners which floated over our 
homes in our late rejoicings, now droop in sympatliy 
with our sadness, and everywhere is heard the 
mournful pealing of funeral bells. 

To-day, in Independence Hall, just where, years 
ago, he declared his readiness to die rather than 
desert the right, surrounded with those historic 
walls which suggest memories sad and joyous, 
the remains of our martyred President rest for a 
season. The generation gone seems to return from 
the silent land to that sanctuary of the Republic, 
that they may look on the calm flxce of him who, 
under God, completed the work they began, and to 
weep with the weeping nation. The living and the 
dead, the past and the present, heaven and earth are 
there; and never before did the veiled sun look 
down upon such a funeral cortege as that. 

No sorrow like the present ever before filled our 
hearts. We loved the President, and we mourn his 
death. We know not how any one can be so unfeel- 
ing as not to mourn, lie sleeps — the noble patriot, 
the kind friend, the honest man! Though prone to 
that which is wrong, I thank God that no unkind 
word concerning him ever passed these lips ; that no 
sympathy with the rebellion that slew him w^as ever 
cherished in this heart. I know not how any one 
can be so base — so lost to every principle of reli- 
gion, of patriotism, and humanity, as to rejoice over 



26 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

this murderous deed — this cuhuinating act of rebel- 
lion. I would not injure such a man, but until he 
gave evidence of repentance, and of a better mind, I 
could not receive him to my confidence, nor recog- 
nize in him a Christian, or a friend to my race. 
I have reason to believe there is no one of this 
description within the sound of my voice to-day. 
We are of one heart. As our loss, so is our sorrow 
— one. The mourning nation may well lament with 
this lamentation: "The beauty of Israel is slain 
upon thy high places. How is the mighty fallen ! 
We are distressed for thee, our beloved President : 
very pleasant hast thou been unto us: thy love was 
wonderful, passing the love of women." 

But Jehovah is on the throne ! His hand is in 
this affliction. It is for our good. This calamity is 
only another evidence of His love. We may see the 
necessity for it when we shall have come into the 
light of a better day. It may have been to humble 
us ; to restrain our boasting ; to make us realize our 
dependence on God. Too much are we disposed to 
trust in an arm of flesh, forgetting that God is our 
rock, and the most high God our Hedeemer : to say, 
"Asshur shall save us, and we will ride upon horses." 
Vain is the help of man. 

We have been a proud, vainglorious people. We 
have been wont to display with unbecoming hauteur 
the armorial ensigns of the three noble races from 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 27 

which we have descended, and flushed with recent 
victories, our minds returned to the old groove. We 
said, " We are the people. Our government is the 
strongest under the sun. We fear not the combined 
forces of the world." And now, God in His dis- 
pleasure has turned our rejoicing into mourning, and 
constrained us to acknowledge Him in our over- 
whelming grief. Herein we have an evidence of His 
gracious purposes concerning us. Up from these 
dark waters He will bring us, and do great things for 
us, only let us not turn again to folly. 

Though our beloved President is dead, our Coun- 
t)y lives. We are coming out of the wilderness, 
through the good providence of our God, and are 
quite near the Land of Promise. There is ground for 
hope concerning this nation. Our history encourages 
the expectation of a brighter future. God never 
dealt with any nation as with this. He gathered 
from the old world the noblest, purest, best, and 
brought them to the wilderness to lay the founda- 
tions of the most beneficent government the world 
has ever known, and He will not suffer it to be 
destroyed so soon. The Egyptian monarchy, which 
boasted that its origin was far away in the abyss of 
ages, continued through seventeen centuries; then, 
destroyed by a Persian king, assumed other forms, 
declining through other five centuries to its final 
extinction. The origin of Greece dates back to a 



28 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

period eighteen hundred years before Christ, and the 
old Grecian States were absorbed by the Byzantine 
Empire at the end of twenty-one centuries. The 
Saxton Heptarchy, after four centuries, was united 
under Egbert, and Great Britain, through many dan- 
gers and revolutions, has come down through more 
than a thousand years. We cannot think that this 
nation will perish in its infancy. Our recent history, 
also, encourages hope. God was with us in the con- 
flict. He overshadowed us with His presence when 
in the high places of the field. The very elements 
were on our side, and the stars in their courses 
fouffht ao-ainst our enemies. He who has been our 
help, will still be our strength and shield, and redeem 
Israel out of all his troubles. Even now we stand 
in the growing light of the morning — the morning 
of a day whose setting, we trust, shall be far down 
the ages. 

Moreover, the Temple of God is in our midst. 
The Church has found a refuge in this land. 
Evangelical religion has attained a growth in this 
country not exceeded, if equalled, in any other. 
The Christian Church has not done its whole duty 
to this land or to the heathen world, but it has done 
even more than the Mother Country; it is doing 
more now than ever before. Will not God spare 
the country for the Church's sake"? If He would 
have averted the doom of Sodom had there been ten 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 29 

righteous men in it, will He not deliver this land 
out of all its troubles, for the sake of the many 
thousands who are called by His name] 

There is much to encourage hope in the recogni- 
tion of God which comes from the people at large. 
The secular press never acknowledged God so 
distinctly as now. Public proclamations and official 
dispatches record His name. On our coin there is a 
grateful and trustful recognition of Him in whom is 
all our hope. On Independence Square, on Penn- 
sylvania Avenue, and on many a tented field, as if 
moved by one impulse, the people, hearing of the 
successes which had attended our national arms, 
lifted up their ten thousand voices in the grand 
old doxology, 

"Praise God, fniin whom all blessings How;" 

and from Capitol Hill blazed out over our national 
metropolis that inspired sentiment: "It is the 
Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." 

My hearers, God has thoughts of love toward this 
nation. He will give us peace. He will subdue 
the rebellious, heal divisions of heart, and unite in 
bonds of love, common interests and aim, the people 
of this land. 

Here I am reminded of an incident in the early 
history of this country. The signification of 
Potomac is generally supposed to be, "the river of 
swans." Count Zinzendorf, who was familiar with 



30 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

the language of the Aborigines, says this is an error. 
He relates that long ago the Delawares, who had 
been at war with a southern tribe, with the view of 
securing an amicable adjustment of their difficulties, 
appointed a meeting on the banks of the river which 
separated their respective domains. The Delwares 
assembled at the designated time and place. Hour 
after hour passed on, but the other tribe failed to 
appear. The former were about to retire, for the 
sun was near its setting, when one of their number 
saw a solitary Indian on the summit of a distant 
hill. Believing that others were coming after, he 
lifted up his hands with an exclamation of joy, 
saying, "Po-to-mac," — "Lo they come!" 

The banks of this same river have been the scene 
of many a hard-fought battle since then, and the 
Potomac has borne the blood of martyred heroes to 
the Eastern main. Yet here we wait the return of 
our erring countrymen. May they soon come, in 
penitence, to pledge eternal fealty to the nation. 
Then, when we shall witness their approach, we 
will fill the air with our glad rejoicings, shouting 
one to another, "Po-to-mac," — "Lo they come!" 

The day is not far distant. There is a bow in 
the cloud. There is a fiood of light flashing 
athwart the troubled sky, at which we look through 
our tears. Though we have not cast anchor, we are 
nearing the harbor. Tried patriots who, trusting in 



THE CURTAINED THRONE. 31 

God, have weathered many a storm, have gone aloft, 
and overlooking the intervening waves they shout 
down to us, "Land ahead! — Land ahead!" 

Let all be true to God and their country. Let 
us remember that Jesus, by His life and example, 
teaches us. to be Patriots as well as Christians. 
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the 
riffht, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, 
to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who 
shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his 
orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a 
just and lasting peace among ourselves and with 
all nations."* Till that blessed consummation is 
reached let all questions of minor importance be for- 
gotten. Let us stand by the government. Let us 
give it our sympathy, our support, and offer for its 
preservation our daily prayers. 

" Then let the hurricane roar, 
It will the sooner be o'er; 
We'll weather the blast, 
And we'll land at last, 
Safe on the evergreen shore." 

But I would not have you forget that there is 
another and a better kingdom, not of this world, 
which claims your service. Some love their country 
more than their God. Some would rather hear 

•President Lincoln's last Inaugural. 



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32 THE CURTAINED THRONE. 

patriotic speeches than listen to gospel sermons. 
Let God be first in your regard. Love your coun- 
try, which is His gift, but never forget the giver. 
Let religion and patriotism go together — one and 
inseparable. Remember it is Jesus who saves, and 
devotion to country can never take the place of 
devotion to Christ. Receive Him as your King, 

"Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown Him Lord of all."~ 

Beloved hearers, death is not far from any one of 
you; Eternity is at hand! To-day, v/hilst clouds 
gather, and deep shadows rest on your hearts, hear 
the voice of Jesus, saying: "Come unto me, ye 
tempest tossed and not comforted, and I will give 
you rest." Believe, obey, and live. Life's conflicts 
ended, you shall go to a peaceful home afal'. There 
the glorious Lord will be unto you a place of broad 
rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no galley with 
oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby ! 



I_B S '12 

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